Tommy's Date
by Don't-You-Knock
Summary: 'How adorable,' Oliver caught himself thinking and was stunned for a moment. This rambling tiny blonde was not adorable; she was downright annoying. Of course that was why he was staring at her, right?


**A/N:** Hi everyone. This is my first attempt at an Arrow fic and won't necessarily be canon compliant as far as the Arrow business is concerned, though the basic theme is the same. Starts a little more than one month after Oliver's return from the island so _The Hood_ is established. Happy Reading.

**Tommy's Date**

He felt restless, agitated. Coming back to Starling City wasn't what he had thought it would be, his family wasn't what he had thought it would be, Laurel wasn't what he had thought she would be; even Tommy felt different. Oliver eyed his best friend from across the table as he laughed at something his date said and then he realized that everybody on the table was laughing except him and the girl. She was merely blushing. Oliver sat up straighter; he must stop zoning out like that.

"Hey do you remember Seth Wilkins?" Oliver turned to his right to find Marge's date asking Tommy's date about someone.

He frowned; it was all becoming too confusing. It had almost been a month since the opening of Verdant and Oliver had hardly spent a night out except going to his club and then sneaking out to be _'the Hood'. _Tommy had finally roped him in to come out to dinner with old friends, to loosen up, to start living again. Oliver was ready to live again, but not the life he was used to. He looked towards the petite blonde, sitting opposite him, and felt somewhat amazed at the way she went on and on and on and on without much rhyme or reason and how he had been unable to look away from her face.

"Of course I remember him," she said excitedly as her bright blue eyes shone behind black frames of glasses. "He was only the most handsome guy on campus. I mean not that there weren't any other handsome guys," she hastened to explain while everyone erupted into grins. "And I was definitely not crushing on him or anything. I only remember him because…well…he _really_ was rather handsome, wasn't he?" She looked completely sheepish as Marge let out a loud laugh.

_'How adorable,'_ Oliver caught himself thinking and was stunned for a moment. This rambling tiny blonde was not adorable; she was downright annoying. Of course that was why he was staring at her, right? It was going to be only him, Laurel, Marge and Tommy but then Marge had said that she was bringing a date and Tommy had said that he also wanted to bring this girl that he really liked. Oliver and Laurel, though awkward around each other for obvious reasons, had decided to come together. And now that he was here at this expensive French restaurant, he simply failed to remember the names of either Marge or Tommy's dates.

"So you two went to college together?" He asked abruptly and the table visibly went quiet.

Oliver felt like rolling his eyes. This had been happening too often around him lately. Every time he said anything or showed interest in anything, every one seemed startled. He hated that his friends tiptoed around him on eggshells.

"Yeah," she nodded just as the waiter started placing their plates in front of them. Thankfully she seemed oblivious to the tension among friends, since she didn't know the _'Ollie'_ from before the island. "Mike was a senior though," she threw the lean, dark man a smile. "But we entered this competition together once and have been friends ever since." Oliver was glad he had asked the question, because now he knew Marge's date's name; one down, one to go.

"She hammered me," Mike took a sip of his drink. "You should have seen my face when she was announced to be the winner. I mean the insult of being thrown off by a junior. Argh." He grinned good naturedly. "We went to MIT, together." He added as an afterthought and Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"So you are still studying?" He wouldn't be surprised if she was, she looked about nineteen.

"No," she took a bite and hummed appreciatively. Oliver gulped. "I graduated in '09."

"How old are you?" Oliver was a bit stunned. The eyes of the whole table were upon him once again. _'Great,'_ he thought, _'Oliver Queen has to learn how to be charming all over again.'_

"You know you are not supposed to ask a girl her age, right buddy?" Tommy couldn't help but tease and Oliver felt himself smile for the first time that night. He wanted to be teased, to smile; maybe even laugh a month down the road. Perhaps Tommy hadn't changed that much. His eyes wandered towards the deceptively young-looking girl again; though his tastes certainly had. She was not a tall, slender model that both Oliver and Tommy used to go for. In fact even with her very high heels (yes, he had noticed…big deal) she had only come as high as his shoulders. He observed her above the rim of his glass; she was different.

"I'm twenty-five," she said quickly.

"Hey," Tommy grabbed her hand for no reason at all and Oliver saw her blush. "You were supposed to keep him in suspense a little while."

"I would've if he was _my_ _date,_" she said flippantly and then looked horrified as Oliver heard Laurel's low chuckle from his side. "Not that I usually keep my dates in suspense," she said earnestly to an obviously amused Tommy. "I mean I haven't a thing to hide, I am an open book anyone can take a peep." Her hand rose up to her cheek. "That sounded completely different in my head." Everyone was doubling over with laughter. "I think I'm going to shut up now." Oliver felt a laugh coming on, but he quelled it; she was definitely interesting.

"Relax Felicity," Oliver was really grateful to Marge because now he knew Tommy's date's name as well. "And Tommy, in case you've forgotten," she looked towards Oliver a bit mischievously. "Oliver can find out everything about Felicity via the special means he has at his disposal."

Oliver almost choked on his drink. _'What the hell was that supposed to mean?' _ He thought in a bit of panic.

"Oh didn't I mention?" Tommy took in his wary expression carefully, "Felicity works at Queen's Consolidated."

"Does she?" Oliver looked at her with a sigh of relief, hoping hard that it wasn't audible. Felicity merely shrugged and looked a bit self conscious.

Oliver turned towards his steak and began carving it as the conversation went on without his participation. Even with the playboy façade that he was still carrying on with, it was easy to see that he wasn't the life of the party anymore. He wanted to turn around and look at Laurel, to gauge if she was still interested; to find the scale of resentment that she probably still harboured against him, the mistrust, perhaps even hate to some extent.

"So," Laurel said from beside him in her low, sultry voice. Oliver quickly turned to look towards the woman he had loved, or thought to have loved, the longest in his life. "I'm still waiting on the stories," she pointed towards Marge and her date and then Tommy and Felicity. "How did you guys meet?"

Oliver took in the dark eyes, the curve of her cheek, the straight posture, the confidence and the hesitation to meet his eyes and turned back towards the couples. Marge began talking, with nods and shrugs at appropriate intervals, from her date and Oliver zoned out again; his mind on the brunette sitting next to him, his eyes still on the blonde sitting opposite him looking with wide eyed excitement at Marge.

He wondered if it was love that he had felt for Laurel at the island, or regret at ruining everything; he wondered if there was a difference for why would he regret not having a life with someone if he didn't love that person? Was it really only just Laurel that had propelled him forward every time he had begun to lose hope or was it the will to live, to survive, to come back and to avenge. Not for the first time after his return, Oliver wondered if he would not have wanted to be a better man if there was no Laurel and not for the first time, he realized that he still would've.

He eyed Laurel's perfectly manicured hands with red nails on fingers that delicately held a goblet and recognized that though Laurel had always been the bonus, she had never been the actual motivation. And now that he had the motivation and the satisfaction that the striking off of each name from the list brought, the bonus didn't seem all that alluring anymore. He looked up from Laurel's hand and found himself staring directly into Felicity's eyes. She was looking at him with a slight confusion as though trying to figure him out. As their eyes met, she blushed and pushed her spectacles back up her nose.

"…and at last," Tommy was saying something, "at the eleventh asking, she said yes." He grinned at Felicity and Oliver felt a pang of something unrecognizable.

The whole shooting arrows into criminals was satisfactory where honouring his father's last wish was concerned, but it didn't fill up his loneliness nor the void in his heart. He had hoped that Laurel would do it, and though she had softened towards him after the initial shock, she was probably not ready to risk her heart for him once again.

"Only because he assured me that it is not a date," Felicity blushed, "only a friendly get together."

"And why exactly do you not want to date Tommy?" Marge raised an eyebrow at the youngest girl on the table. "I mean look at the boy."

Oliver narrowed his eyes at the girl with the bright pink lipstick and the electric blue dress and came to a sudden conclusion: Felicity was not trying to impress Tommy; otherwise she would not have worn her spectacles. Maybe he was partial, but he simply couldn't understand why any girl wouldn't bend over backwards to date Tommy Merlyn, and she was not even that beautiful.

"Because, he is my student," she said as if it was a universal truth but there was a trace of mischief in her tone. Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"I'm learning how to hack a computer from her," Tommy grinned, "she is a pro, you know."

For the first time that evening, Oliver felt a sudden excitement run through his veins. His eyes glued themselves to Felicity's face, not that they had wandered far from them all evening. A computer hacker was someone he could really use at that moment.

"So you are an IT expert," he asked her directly and she nodded. "And are you any good?"

"The best," Tommy said appreciatively while Felicity bit her lip. "Walter's a fan."

"Oh Mr. Steele just likes to encourage me," she demurred and Oliver eyed her thoughtfully.

"So there's a masquerade coming up next week," Marge informed everyone in general. "Who's coming as whom? Spill now, repent later."

Oliver's back stiffened. It was this masquerade that he and Diggle had been looking forward to for two weeks because that was where they were going to catch Rudolph Yani, the artifact thief masquerading as a college professor. Suddenly his fingers itched to hold the bow and shoot, aiming for everyone on the list. He flexed his hand unconsciously and found Felicity's gaze dropping towards his hand.

"I haven't decided yet," Laurel said casually.

Oliver sighed; she was definitely not the woman he had come back to. There was too much bitterness, too much bad history and too little chemistry between them. There were no sparks, no fire; they were definitely not the same people anymore. _'What is wrong with us?'_ He thought in frustration.

"Err…one of you is pressing my shoe," Felicity's voice brought him out of his reverie and his eyes widened. She was looking between him and Mike. "And it has started to hurt now," she winced.

Oliver brought up his leg with such force that his knee collided with the underside of the table, making the glasses vibrate, but thankfully not fall. Everyone was staring at him again, except Felicity, who bent down to look at her foot and then gave him a crooked smile.

"I'm sorry," he offered a bit stiffly, "I wasn't paying attention." Though truth be told, his attention had been monopolized by the rambling girl rather much that evening.

"Its okay," she said kindly, "I don't mind. I mean its not as though you were doing it on purpose. Why would you, billionaires don't go around pressing the feet of unsuspecting females, or maybe they do, I hardly know since you are only the third billionaire that I have ever come across." She suddenly reddened as Oliver's eyes expanded some more. "I'm not implying that handsome billionaires have personality quirks, because you and Tommy seem perfectly normal to me, except for the hard foot pressing, which obviously was unintentional and I should probably stop talking."

She looked around at the amused faces of everyone and sat back, with a mortified blush.

"The check please," Oliver stopped a waiter before turning towards his friends and their dates. "Let's continue this at the club," and then turned towards Felicity. "I assure you that whatever quirks _handsome_ billionaires like me and Tommy have, hard foot pressing is not one of them."

Laurel muffled her giggle but Marge was not as kind. Felicity merely blinked at him in that endearing manner. _'Endearing manner?'_ Oliver thought in disbelief as they got into their cars and headed towards Verdant; _'what on Earth is happening to me?'_

* * *

As usual, the club was overflowing. Oliver's eyes searched Diggle out as he sat silently by the bar; their eyes met over the crowd and he could read the frustration in his just as well as he felt it in himself. Diggle was meant to search Professor Yani's house that night while Oliver kept guard, but the way his friends were monopolizing his time, he doubted if he would be able to get out at all.

"…am going to come as 'The Hood'," Mike said pleasantly as they stood to a side sipping their drinks and Oliver became alert.

"Laurel could help you with that, since she has actually seen him up, close and personal," Marge teased and Laurel's cheeks flushed. Oliver narrowed his eyes. _'Unbelievable,' _ he thought, _'she can't bear to be with me and yet has a schoolgirl crush on a vigilante.'_

"Tell us about it, Laurel," Mike asked enthusiastically as the music blasted around them. "What is he like _up, close and personal?"_

"I'm sure he is nothing much to write home about," the answer took Oliver unawares and thus by surprise. He turned to look at Felicity who was wearing a disapproving expression.

"You have a problem with Starling City's superhero?" Tommy asked with curiosity as he took her hand. Oliver was all ears as well.

"With his methods, I do," she said putting her glass away on the side.

"You do realize that he is punishing the bad guys, do you not?" Laurel's voice was defensive and Oliver could see Felicity becoming nervous.

"I don't doubt the intent behind his actions," she said moving her hands in the air in an agitated manner, "but punishing should not necessarily mean _killing_ people off. There is a reason why this city has the _law."_

Oliver felt like he should defend himself against what the elfin creature was saying, to explain why it was necessary to finish everyone on the list off (if they failed to atone), why it was important to the future of the city. But he kept his mouth firmly shut; she was a nobody and he didn't need to defend his actions to Miss Hollier-than-thou over there.

"I say we all go as The Hood," Tommy said goodnaturedly, trying to disperse the sudden tension among the group, "and Felicity goes as a police officer."

Oliver's eyes met Tommy's above the drinks and a look passed between them. Tommy smirked and Oliver grinned; they were thinking the same thing, how sexy the little elf was going to look in a uniform. It was pathetic, but it felt as though some part of the past was restored to them via that look, via Felicity.

"Oh no," she quickly denied, "I'm not even invited."

"Didn't you hear?" Tommy drew her closer and a pretty blush spread upon her cheeks. Oliver's grip tightened around his glass. "A handsome billionaire, minus the quirks, wants to take you as his date."

"Certainly I can't go with Mr. Queen," she said with a teasing smile and everyone laughed but then Felicity looked towards a brooding Oliver and decided that it was a good time to start rambling towards Africa. "Not that I wouldn't go with you if you asked, I mean I wouldn't but then you'll never ask and it is only because I'm already going with Tommy so there is no need to look at me like…like…The Hood. Oh My God, please shut me up someone."

Nope, Oliver grinned, the tension had definitely fled the group. He turned towards Laurel as she placed a hand upon his arm to stop herself from falling down since she was laughing so hard and they shared a look, a look so friendly that it amazed Oliver. The relationship between him and Laurel had never let them truly become friends, but perhaps they could be that now.

"Laurel," a deep voice called from nearby and everyone turned to look at a tall, attractive male in his mid thirties looking intensely down at Laurel. "What a coincidence."

Laurel's hand tightened around Oliver's arm unconsciously. He raised an eyebrow and took in the rather good looking guy in front of them.

"Elliot," she said in a bashful manner that was completely uncharacteristic of her. "I had no idea that you came to…err…ahem." She cleared her throat and fidgeted with her hands leaving her sentence unfinished.

_'Perhaps what Felicity has is contagious,'_ Oliver thought with some amusement.

"I know I'm older than you Laurel," the man drawled, "but I hope you don't think me too old to enjoy a bit of music and dancing." There was a hint of teasing in his voice but his demeanor remained invariably serious.

Oliver turned to look at Laurel and his heart dipped; she was blushing.

"A bit of music perhaps," she recovered quickly though, "but surely, not dancing." Her hand dropped from his arm as she took an unconscious step towards the man called Elliot. "Guys this is Elliot Warring and these are my friends," she said quickly before placing her hand in his outstretched one.

"Let me prove you wrong," he smiled then, a slow seductive smile. Oliver almost groaned. "Nice meeting you guys." He barely turned towards them as he led Laurel to the dance floor.

Something constricted in Oliver's heart as he watched Laurel move comfortably with someone he didn't know, while he stood on the sidelines and watched. Laurel was supposed to be the love of his life, the woman with whose memories he had lit the darkest nights and the most arduous days at the Island and beyond, she was supposed to be the _one._ He had started to have his doubts.

"Wow," Felicity's soft voice called him back to the blasting music and pulsating bodies in the room. "Someone has a crush on Mr. Warring." Her eyes twinkled behind the glasses. Oliver's jaw hardened despite himself.

The silence among the group became deafening. He could almost feel Tommy and Marge stealing glances at him, as though he was a fragile teen age girl whose date ditched her at the prom. _'Oh screw it,'_ he thought in irritation. Why was Laurel so important to him, why after everything that had happened between them was he still so hung up on her?

"Dance with me?" Mike sensed that something was wrong and quickly asked Marge for a dance. She smiled with relief and pleasure and they walked away towards the dance floor.

"You do know what's coming up do you not?" Tommy threw his trademark hard to resist smile at Felicity and for some reason, she looked uncomfortable.

"Erm…," she said lamely, "you want to get a drink?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow. She didn't want to dance. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even know how to, or had two left or right feet. She seemed like the clumsy type who would step on her partner's feet rather too much. Oliver wished that Tommy would go off by himself so that he could talk with Felicity alone and gauge whether he could ask her for a favour or two in relation to her hacking skills.

"C'mon," Tommy said in exasperation, "don't make me ask eleven times, Felicity."

She grinned and nodded, still looking unenthusiastic.

"You go dance Tommy," Oliver intervened hastily, "I'll keep her company."

"Are you trying to steal my girl, Queen?" Tommy gave him a faux stern look.

"Only if you'll let me," he said without thinking and then clamped his mouth shut quickly_. 'What felicity has is definitely contagious,'_ he thought with dismay at Tommy's shocked countenance and Felicity's widened gaze.

Oliver felt a bit irritated again. If he had said something on these lines five years ago, people would have simply laughed and brushed it off as the part and parcel of the Oliver Queen charm, but now every time he made some smartass remark, every one went into a short coma. Perhaps he had abstained long enough, he inhaled deeply. Perhaps it was time to let a bit of the old _Ollie_ loose, the problem was, he didn't know how.

"Lets dance, Tommy," Felicity placed a soft hand upon Tommy's arm, "and just to be clear, I'm nobody's girl." Oliver tried to detect some hint of teasing in her voice, but she probably meant it.

He shrugged at Tommy and they stalked off. Oliver hastened towards Diggle.

"Rough night?" His friend asked.

"Don't ask," he shook his head. "I don't think it'll be possible to patrol tonight."

"It isn't too late," Diggle said in a matter of fact manner. "We need the professor's mobile or laptop or something that can lead us to know who he is working with."

"Yes," he agreed, frustration mounting once again, "but it is near impossible for me to escape my friends tonight."

"Leave this one to me," Diggle looked directly at Oliver and he opened his mouth but something in the eyes of the ex-army man made him remain silent. "You shall have the mobile by the end of this night, whether you'll be able to do anything with it is another matter altogether."

Oliver looked questioningly at his bodyguard and partner and Diggle shrugged his broad shoulders.

"He might have a code on his phone," Diggle pointed out, "a password that we will have no way of getting right."

A flash of electric blue in his peripheral vision made him jerk towards his left and there she was, the IT expert that Tommy had brought as his date and was now taking towards the dance floor. She was rather delicately built and seemingly twittering and rambling; Oliver wondered if she would be intelligent enough to decipher his secret if he roped her in to help him out, and more importantly, he wondered if she would be strong enough to handle it.

"I think I might have an idea," he said in a low contemplative tone as he turned back towards Diggle. The beefy driver raised an eyebrow.

"I'll leave you to it then," he said as though doubting if what Oliver said was possible and then walked away.

Oliver nodded and motioned for the bartender. Within moments he had his usual down his throat and turned around to scope out the dance floor. There was no sign of Laurel and her _Elliot_; perhaps they were already at her apartment, or maybe his. He pushed the glass away; he needed to spend all this energy somewhere. He walked towards the dance floor and his eyes landed upon Tommy and Felicity dancing awkwardly together.

As he made his way towards the couple, he watched them stopping quickly as Tommy put his phone to his ear and then led Felicity off the floor making a beeline for Oliver when he saw him.

"Hey, I gotta take this," he said pointing towards the phone, "take care of her, will you?" And then he was moving towards the entrance.

Oliver shot Felicity a quick look as she smiled half-heartedly but he could not help but notice that she looked relieved.

"So you don't like to dance?" He asked at last.

Felicity looked up sharply and then gave him a sheepish smile.

"Actually I do like to dance," she said spreading her hands out, "just not with my dates." Oliver merely raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh I become extremely nervous on dates and tend to ramble a lot."

_'No kidding,'_ he though with amusement.

"Same goes for dancing," she sighed, "I keep stepping on their feet or inventing strange moves." He grinned. "I've been told that my date dance usually is a mix of some weird karate moves, hand fanning and classical Indian dance."

"Should be interesting to experience," he drawled, his curiosity peaked. He wondered why he was so curious about the young, blonde girl in front of him; maybe it was because she was different from almost every woman he had ever interacted with, or maybe it was the lure of her hacking skills.

"Oh you wouldn't be able to, ever," she said with a soft smile and Oliver frowned, wondering what she meant. She clarified pretty quickly. "I mean we will never date, so you will never be able to witness my ninja Indian fan dance moves."

Oliver looked at her calculatingly as she blushed and rambled on about the many reasons they couldn't date; suddenly wanting to…very much.

"Okay, okay, I get it," after a few minutes he had had about enough of her reasons. "Show me your normal moves then. Lets dance till Tommy comes back." He spread his hand, eyeing her bright tipped fingers and raising an eyebrow as he took in the delicate hands.

"Oh no, no, no, no," she quickly hid her hands behind herself. Oliver's eye narrowed; it wasn't everyday that a girl refused to dance with him. "You see my exceptional dance skills," she said a bit sheepishly, "extend to exceptionally handsome guys as well." Oliver might have laughed then, if she hadn't looked so stricken. "Oh my God," she said with acute embarrassment, "you were not meant to hear this. Did you? Because the music is really loud and I'm hoping by your rather brooding looks that you have probably not heard it. Not that it is a bad thing, because really, who doesn't like to be called handsome. But you must be used to that kind of thing since the newspapers say…" She seemed horrified with what she was about to utter and somehow, stopped. "So," she cleared her throat and tried to act casual as Oliver tried to figure her out while hoping that she would now change the topic, "you have a crush on Laurel?"

That was when, he could not stop. As Felicity clamped her hands upon her mouth, Oliver laughed after a long, long time. It felt good. He suddenly understood the appeal of the seemingly naïve girl's appeal: she didn't know the Oliver from five years ago. And though she must have heard or read about him and his debaucheries, she didn't seem to be thinking about them. He knew for a fact that none of his old friends would have asked him directly about Laurel; the fact that she did and in her typical lack-of-filter-between-mouth-and-brain manner sort of relaxed him. Tommy's date was adorable.

* * *

**A/N:** So far its only a one shot, though the basic idea is for a three shot. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Do review.


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